this make-up artist is redefining beauty with her extreme looks

​“Every look represents a story or a situation I’ve been through,” says Aryuna Tardis.

Aryuna Tardis is a beauty goddess. It says so on her Instagram and she has 68.5k followers to back her up. Growing up, Aryuna never really felt like she fit in. Her parents were from Buryatiya -- the Asian part of Russia -- but they moved to the European part in Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky when Aryuna was just a kid. So she didn’t really look like anyone around her, which made her feel incredibly isolated. Not one to conform to the mould, she actively went about destroying it. First came the thick white base cream, next the emo black eyes, followed by the ear plugs, tattoos, piercings and dyeing her hair every colour of the rainbow. She’s chilled out on the body modification, and now spends her time experimenting with make-up. For Aryuna, when it comes to serving up looks on Instagram, no look is too big or too bold or too subversive. Sickening four-eyed realness? You betcha. Lady of the Lake glamour? Why, of course! In fact, so daring are her looks that she’s been tapped by beauty giant L’Oreal as one of their Colorista Ambassadors. An example for us all to stop playing by the rules, here she offers her notes on beauty.

“My earliest beauty memory was my mum buying me base cream as she was tired of me always borrowing her cosmetics. I used the cream to make my skin look really pale. That, along with a black eye pencil, was the first make-up I used.

Make-up was really important for me. I come from a place where it was pretty hard to dress up in a cool way, so I was always looking for some way to express myself. I would have done anything to stand out. I was a bit of an emo kid, so I would experiment a lot. I pierced my ears, lips and neck, wore ear plugs, had lots of tattoos, dyed my hair all different colours and so on. When it comes to beauty, I don’t like to conform to the norm.

I remember the first time I dyed my hair red. It was because of the Paramore music video for Crushcrushcrush . I wanted to look like Hayley Williams. I was almost expelled from school because of my red hair. My principal said it was too provoking. The irony is that her granddaughter is following me now.

I spent most of my childhood around European-looking people, which made me feel like I didn’t fit in. My eyes were a different shape to theirs, my cheeks, my face in general. I tried to run away from it, which is what led me onto my journal of modification. Everything had to change. I was expressing my emotions, fears and insecurities through each piercing or tattoo. Slowly I began to feel more confident and free.

I haven’t had another tattoo for three years now, I haven’t felt the need to. I’ve never done anything because it was trendy or cool, it was my way of exorcising painful emotions. I just like to express myself. People private message me a lot telling me how cool am I, I always encourage them to go out and do the same -- express yourself and become your authentic self.

I post a lot of different looks on Instagram. Every look represents a story or a situation I’ve been through. Each one has a name like a work of art, and a story behind it, which I share on Twitter and YouTube channel. Everything that I am inside, my whole inner world, is being reflected through them. Usually every picture is dedicated to someone.

Nowadays, there are so many people who look alike, which is a shame. I have always valued the individuality and uniqueness. Diversity is so important, you need to be able to feel good in yourself no matter who you are or what you look like. The industry is finally beginning to accept people for who they are, which is incredible. Long may it continue.”